Portable rack



April 1951 G. R. MOALPINE ET AL PORTABLE RACK Filed Jan. 15, 1948 Geovy 1?. N -fl INVENTORS,

ATTORN EY.

l atentecl Apr. 17, 1951 OFFICE 2,549,498 PORTABLE RACK George R. McAlpine and John C. Bowlware,

Oklahoma City,

Okla.

Application January 15, 1948, Serial No. 2,496

4 Claims.

and more particularly to racks for fire hose.

It is common practice in most municipal fire stations to stretch out the fire hose to dry after use. After drying, the hose is then dragged along the floor, usually of concrete, to a storage rack, where it is kept folded during storage. When it is later desired to load the hose on a fire truck, it is again dragged along the fioor as it is being fed onto the truck.

Since the exterior ply of most fire hose is made of canvas, the abrasive action of the concrete floor materially shortens its usable life for fire purposes.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a rack wherein the dried hose may be stored in convolute rolls, the rack being portable so that it may be taken to the hose, instead of the hose being dragged along the floor to the rack. A further object is to provide a rack from which the stored hose may be fed directly to a fire truck, without the necessity of the hose coming in contact with'the floor.

Another object is to provide .a hose storage rack from which hose is easily handled.

Other objects will be apparent from the fol-' lowing description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying single sheet of drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view, shown in dotted lines;

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating typical construction and assembly of supporting rollers and partitions forming a part of the rack;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken longitudinally through one of the hose supporting rollers; and,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevational view illustrating typical assembly of the rack frame corner posts and their horizontal brace members.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

The reference numerals I, 2, 3 and 4 indicate four substantially identical vertical corner posts, each of which journals the vertical pivot pin, not shown, of a conventional caster fork 5, having depending parallel legs 6 between which a caster wheel I is rotatably mounted upon an axle 8. The corner posts 1 and 2 constitute one end pair, and the posts 3 and '4 constitute the other end pair of the frame posts.

stored hose being The posts of each pair are rigidly connected together in vertical parallel relation by a plu rality of horizontal brace members, or rods 9. The ends of the rods 9 are seated in sockets, not shown, but which are bored into the peripheries of the corner posts, and the rods are preferably welded to the posts. The corner posts I and 2, and their uniting brace members 9 form one vertical end-frame of the rack, and the posts 3 and. 4 together with their brace members 9 form another vertical end-frame of the rack.

The corner posts I and 3, and the posts 2 and 4 0f the two end frames, are rigidly connected together by horizontal brace members or supporting elements It. The posts are through bored horizontally to receive the ends of the brace members, and each brace member has a rigid enlargement or shoulder ll adjacent each end which abuts the periphery of one of the corner posts. Nuts [2 on the ends of the brace members [0, act to positively clamp the posts against the respective shoulders ll.

Slanting sag-braces l3 are provided beneath each one of the two lowermost brace members Ill, and are preferably welded thereto. The central portions of the two sag-braces l3 are lower than their end portions which diverge upwardly to meet the brace member ID to which they are welded.

A vertically disposed leg l4 extends upwardly from the lowermost portion of each sag-brace l3, to which its lower end is welded, and the upper end of each leg is equipped with a rigidly mounted plate l5. Each leg M has its upper end welded to one of the uppermost brace-members l0, and intermediate its ends, the leg is welded to one of the lowermost brace-members Ill. Adjacent the leg I4, each of the lowermost bracemembers ill is equipped with a rigidly attached plate t6.

The two upper plates [5 are connected by a transverse sag-brace ll, the end portions of which pass through the two plates and project there-beyond to receive nuts, one of which appears in Fig. 1 and indicated by the reference numeral l8.

Similarly, the two lower plates l6 are connected together by a transverse sag-brace l9.

The two transverse sag-braces l1 and I9 slope downwardly from the plates to a central point in their lengths.

The two lowermost ones of the brace members 9 have their central portions 20 flattened as shown, and the two flattened portions are through bored to receive one end each of a longi- 3 tudinally extending rod 2i. Nuts are provided on the ends of the rod 2| to hold the same rigidly in place. The rod 2| passes over and rests upon the central portion of the sag-brace l9.

Similarly, an upper longitudinally extending rod 22 is connected to two other ones of the brace members 9, and the rod 22 passes over and rests upon the upper sag-brace H. The rods 21 and 22 may,.if desired, be spot-welded to the respective sag-braces l9 and ii.

The mechanism above described, the parts of which are indicated in the drawings by the reference numerals l to 22 inclusive, constitute the rack frame or chassis.

In addition to that structure, the invention further includes a. plurality of removable compartments, each adapted to rollably support .a roll of fire hose.

Each compartment is composed substantially of two vertically disposed flat metal plates 30,

which in'the present drawings are shown asbeing substantially diamond-shaped, but could well be made in other desired configurations.

The lowermost point of each plate 39 has an upwardly cut notch 3i adapted to fit over the rod 2! of the frame, and the outer portions of the lower edge of the plate is provided with notches 32 which are adapted to seat upon the two horizontal brace members it of the frame.

Adjacent their lower edges, each plate 30 is provided with a plurality of through perforations 33. In the present embodiment, there are four of the perforationsshown (Fig. 2), and the correspondingly located two of these perforations in theadjacent two plates 35, journal the pivot pins 34 of a rubber roller-36. In assembly, two of the plates 39 are brought together so as to journal the four :rollers 36, and bottom plates '35 lying between the rollers, are then welded to the two plates. 39 to hold them in rigid spaced relation.

Any number of the compartments may be formed by adding another .plate .39 .to the first two in the series. In Fig. 1 of the'drawings, three oftheplates -39 are shown assembled to form two of the hose receiving compartments.

The reference numeral 37 indicates .a roll of hose residing in one of .the compartments, its end 3.8 being :drawn away from the roll as it would appear when the hose is being fed onto a fire truck. Other rolls of hose may be stored on edge .in the rack, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,.and as indicated by the reference numerals 39 It might well be found desirable to completely fill both the upper and lower portions of the rack with the roller containing storage compartments, or the rolled hose can be stored on edge outside of the compartments, and each roll then be lifted into a compartment when it is desired to feed the hose on to a truck.

It is thought that operation of the device is obvious from the above descriptive matter, and that further explanation thereof is unnecessary.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to some change or alteration without defeating its practicability, and we therefore do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein, further than we are limited by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A hose rack including: a wheeled frame; compartments removably supported by the frame for retaining on edge a roll of helically wound hose; and anti-friction means within each compartment for rotatably supporting said roll.

2. The combination with a vehicle for transporting rolls of hose, said vehicle having horizontal supporting elements, of removable compartments adapted to rest upon and be supported by said elements, said compartments each including: vertical parallel end plates heldin rigid spaced relation; a pluralityof horizontally disposed roll supporting rollers rotatably mounted between the plates;-and means formed in the edges of said platesfor nesting said supporting elements and retaining said platesinthevehicle.

3. A hose rack including: a wheeled frame; compartments-removably supported by the frame for retainin on edge a roll of helically woundhose; and means carried by eachcompartment for nesting a portion of said frame and retaining the compartment therein.

4. Structure as specified in claim 1, and: means carried by each compartment for nesting a portion of said frame and retaining the compartment therein.

GEORGE R. McALPINE. JOHN C. BOWLWARE.

REFERENCES CITED The following, references are of .recorddn .the

file of this patent:

UNITED STATES "PATENTS I 

